Sage of Humanity

Having spent some time cleaning up the weeds near the training room, Lu Ye found an acceptable room and pushed the door open to enter.

Despite this place being desolate and unattended, it was a spot that the Righteous Blood Sect had spent a great deal of money to construct back in the day, since it was critical to the disciples' cultivation and could not be neglected. Thus, every training room here was enveloped by a Formation that could only be accessed by disciples of the Righteous Blood Sect.

However, given that the Formations had not been used for a very long time, they had long stopped functioning.

Looking around, the room wasn't big and lacked any superfluous decorations, only a trace of an Array could be seen on the ground.

That was a Spirit Gathering Array designed to gather Spiritual Energy from all directions and increase efficiency in cultivation.

Furthermore, there were eight slots surrounding the Spirit Gathering Array where, if Spirit Stones were placed, the intensity of the Spiritual Energy within the room could be further enhanced.

The Spiritual Energy in every sect's territory was denser than in the wild, for instance, at the Righteous Blood Sect's territory, the Spiritual Energy was about ten percent richer than outside.

It wasn't a significant increase, as this was just the most fundamental enhancement. As long as the Heaven's Augury Pillar was functioning, its coverage area would benefit from this boost.

This was the reason why independent cultivators would gather at the territory of the Righteous Blood Sect, where the Spiritual Energy was more concentrated.

However, if a sect was destroyed, those unclaimed Heaven's Augury Pillars lost this effect, like the one at Mount Ying where Lu Ye had stayed before, where the Spiritual Energy was no different from the wilderness.

The ten percent boost was just the beginning. With enough merit, one could purchase enhancements from Heaven's Augury, which harnessed the power of Heaven's Augury to make the Spiritual Energy in the territory even denser.

The core circle's top powers all had territories where the Spiritual Energy was several times or even tens of times denser than the wilderness. Cultivating in such environments would undoubtedly be vastly more efficient.

The Heaven's Augury Pillar of the Righteous Blood Sect didn't have any enhancements applied and only performed its primary function.

Fortunately, there was also the Spirit Gathering Array in the training room.

This was precisely why Second Senior Sister had mentioned that it was better to cultivate within the territory.

The Spirit Gathering Array beneath Lu Ye's feet wasn't functioning since it had long lost its energy supply. He didn't hurry to activate the Formation but instead inspected the pattern of the Spirit Gathering Array.

Half a Shichen later, he concluded that the pattern of the Spirit Gathering Array had an eighty percent similarity to his own Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes. They could be considered to come from the same source; in fact, his Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes were like a miniature version of the Spirit Gathering Array.

Retrieving eight Spirit Stones, Lu Ye placed them into the eight slots of the Spirit Gathering Array. Moving to the center of the Formation, he pressed his hand down and stimulated his spirit force.

As his own spirit force continued to drain, the Array in the room began to operate, and Lu Ye could distinctly feel the Spiritual Energy surging towards him from all around.

In just a short moment, the Spiritual Energy inside the room became denser than outside.

It was not only due to the Spirit Gathering Array aggregating the Spiritual Energy of nature but also because of the energy from the Spirit Stones placed in the slots being activated.

There was a limit to this enhancement, however. Lu Ye sensed that the enrichment of the Spiritual Energy within the room peaked at around twenty percent and then stopped increasing. Even if the Spirit Gathering Array gathered more nature's Spiritual Energy, the excess would seep away if not absorbed.

After some thought, Lu Ye placed his hand against a wall and, with a significant consumption of his spirit force, he constructed a massive Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Rune.

The flow of Spiritual Energy grew even stronger.

When he had first acquired the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes, he'd considered this possibility: if the runes were large enough, they should have a noticeable effect, which he now had the chance to verify.

Moreover, the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes would continuously absorb nature's Spiritual Energy to replenish themselves. As long as they weren't intentionally damaged, they could maintain this state indefinitely, unlike the Spirit Gathering Array which relied on the power of the Spirit Stones to function.

It would activate the spirit force within the stones during its consumption, allowing a cultivator to absorb the released spirit force.

Sensing his own condition, he found that his spirit force had greatly depleted since he had never constructed a Spirit Gathering Array so large before. However, he could still set up one more.@@novelbin@@

Shortly after, a second Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Rune appeared on another wall. Instantly, Lu Ye felt almost emptied.

But the effort was worthwhile, as the current of Spiritual Energy intensified further.

Now, this small training room contained a functioning Spirit Gathering Array and two Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes. Lu Ye was eager to discover what effects cultivating in such an environment would yield.

He took out a meditation cushion from his storage sack, dropped it on the ground, sat down cross-legged, and began to construct funnel-like structures within his spiritual orifice.

After the time it took for one stick of incense to burn, his sixty-four spiritual orifices had all been enhanced with the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes.

Suddenly, Lu Ye felt the surrounding spirit force madly rushing into his body, transforming into his own spirit force through the circulation of his Cultivation Technique.

His heavily depleted body began to recover swiftly.

Six hours later, Lu Ye stood up and constructed yet another large Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Rune on the third wall of the training room.

The effect of Gathering Spirit increased once more!

He gauged the changes in his own spirit force.

He eventually arrived at an astonishing conclusion: cultivating in such an environment for one day and night was roughly equivalent to the effect of refining five elixir pills!

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He discovered the wonderful use of Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes at his 29th orifice. At that time, he had tried to embellish all his 29 orifices with those runes, and ultimately concluded that a day and a night of cultivation was nearly equivalent to refining a Spirit-Nurturing Pill.

Now that he had opened his 64th orifice, which was more than double the number of his 29, and the cultivation environment had drastically changed, these were the reasons for the significant improvement in the results of his cultivation.

After reaching the Spirit Stream Level 5 realm, each additional orifice required the consumption of roughly twenty or more elixir pills. In other words, even without consuming elixir pills, cultivating in this environment would only need four or five days to open an orifice.

If he could consume elixir pills, the efficiency would undoubtedly be even faster.

The spiritual energy at the Righteous Blood Sect's station was only ten percent denser than in the wilderness, with not a single blessing upon the Heaven's Augury Pillar. What if he could acquire more blessings for the pillar, to make the spiritual energy at the station one, two, or even five to ten times denser than the wilderness?

Just the thought of it filled Lu Ye with longing excitement!

He needed to quickly find a way to restore the Talent Tree's ability to burn away pill poison. Additionally, he had to find a way to put more blessings on the Heaven's Augury Pillar!

For the former, he planned to search the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, confident he would find something there. As for the latter, he had no clues, so he would have to consult his Fourth Senior Brother. The jade slip his Fourth Senior Brother had given him did not mention these things.

Having fully recovered the consumed spirit force, Lu Ye was currently attempting to break through to the 65th orifice.

But before he could break through the barrier of the 65th orifice, a message came through his battlefield marking. Looking down to check, it was from his Second Senior Sister.

"Your Fourth Senior Brother is looking for you!"

Under normal circumstances, there is no way to send messages between the Nine Provinces and the Spirit Stream battlefield, since they are not in the same space. However, since Lu Ye is the Governor of the Righteous Blood Sect and Second Senior Sister is the Seal Envoy of the sect, they are able to communicate with each other.

Only then did Lu Ye remember, he had been so immersed in his cultivation that he had completely forgotten the appointment with his Fourth Senior Brother.

He had no idea what his Fourth Senior Brother wanted to teach him.

After sending a message back, Lu Ye ended his cultivation.

The eight Spirit Stones had been almost completely consumed, but Lu Ye didn't bother with them. He walked out of the room, securely closed the door, and then used his authority as a Governor to activate the nearby Formation.

This place would be his exclusive cultivation spot from now on, off-limits to anyone else.

Strolling to the Heaven's Augury Hall, he saw someone sitting outside the entrance, passing the time in meditation.

The sound of footsteps startled the person, who hurriedly opened his eyes. Upon seeing Lu Ye, he showed a delighted expression, "Is this Fellow Daoist Lu Ye from the Righteous Blood Sect?"

"It is," Lu Ye responded, sizing up the stranger. He was a Level 3 cultivator. Frowning, he asked, "Is something the matter?"

The man hurriedly said, "Senior Brother Chen Yu is looking for Fellow Daoist Lu. He wishes to discuss matters regarding the marketplace with you."

"The marketplace?" Lu Ye was puzzled, wondering what business he had with the marketplace. But then it quickly dawned on him; the marketplace here had been maintained for many years and attracted a large number of independent cultivators. It only lacked the presence of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

Since his arrival, the situation for those cultivators had become somewhat awkward—they were reluctant to leave, but staying didn't seem right either. After all, this was the Righteous Blood Sect's territory. Previously, no one bothered them, but now they were under jurisdiction.

"Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist Lu. I will have Senior Brother Chen come over," the man said, preparing to send a message.

"I have some other matters to attend to. We can discuss this later," Lu Ye said, anxious to return to the sect and not eager to wait around here. Moreover, he didn't know how to handle such matters and would rather seek advice from his seniors first.

"When will Fellow Daoist Lu return? I will inform Senior Brother Chen to wait for you here," the man asked diligently.

"Tomorrow," Lu Ye replied before using the Heaven's Augury Pillar to go back to the sect headquarters.

Exiting the Heaven's Augury Hall, following the aroma, he came to the dining hall, where the table was full of delicious food. The mere smell was enough to make one's mouth water.

These were not just ordinary dishes, they were medicinal cuisines specially prepared by Second Senior Sister, each with a specific effect.

Lu Ye was surprised to find that today's spread was exceptionally plentiful.

Li Baxian was already seated, gobbling down food one moment and guzzling wine the next. Seeing Lu Ye's return, he called out warmly, "Little Junior Brother, take a seat and try the fish I caught."

Lu Ye sat down and picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks, tasting a bite. It was unexpectedly delicious.

Li Baxian laughed, "The Blood Red Trouts from Moon Lake were previously used for the disciples' Body Refining, with a fixed allocation for each. But now, well, you can eat as much as you like. I tell you, if one day we're short on Spirit Stones, just catch a few from Moon Lake, selling each for dozens or even hundreds of Spirit Stones is not a problem."

"Cough cough cough..." Lu Ye suddenly choked, not expecting the fish to be so valuable.

"Also, Little Gray loves these fish. When you go back to your station, bring a couple for it. After all these years without anyone caring, it's quite pitiable," Li Baxian continued.

"Understood," Lu Ye nodded.

"Do you drink, Little Junior Brother?" Li Baxian was halfway through his question when he felt a sharp gaze from across the table and quickly changed his tone, "You're still young, so best not drink. And be cautious when you're out and about. Don't get drunk by those licentious women and tricked into... various positions."

Lu Ye: …

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